Kringlan Sets Up Smokers’ Box

Smokers who go to the mall will have a new surprise waiting for them at Kringlan: a sealed glass room.

Vísir reports that the smokers’ shelter – located outside the first floor entrance of Kringlan – is both heated and well-lit. It also has ventilation ducts which are used to whisk away smoke to parts unknown.

Sigurjón Örn Þórsson, the managing director of Kringlan, says the shelter was put in place for the benefit of both smokers and non-smokers alike – that smokers can have some place warm and dry to smoke, and that non-smokers can walk through the entrance to the mall without having to pass through cigarette smoke first.

He said they have received most of their complaints about smokers in front of mall entrances, especially those on the ground floor, “which are not under the open sky” but rather inside the parking garage. There are also plans in the works to build another smokers’ shelter.

“It costs money, but I believe it will pay for itself through the satisfaction of our customers, both non-smokers and those that smoke,” he said.